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Notes on the Lepidopterofauna of Madagascar

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Notes on the Lepidopterofauna of Madagascar 1955 The Lepidopterists' News 61 NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTEROFAUNA OF MADAGASCAR by PIERRE E. L. VIETTE The island of Madagascar is situated between 12° and 25° South latitude and separated from the East African coast by the Mozambique Channel: 3,000 meters deep, 390 kilometers wide at the minimum. The surface is 585,000 square kilometers (one kilomete:r equals nearly five-eighths of a mile) . • more than 3'" Summer \ -monSoon ~from 1"50to~" \. ,,0 Bfrom 1'" to 1'"So (ll -<>' ITIIl from 500 ~ to 1'" ",'{ ~ 185, thiln 5007.. _ Climilte limits ..... OJ -. ... .U!'~ ~'l' .. o <> Fig. 1. Map of climates and rainfall on Madagascar. Three-fourths of Madagascar is formed by a crystalline highland (gneiss and mica schists) surmounted by volcanic uplifts (Tsaratanana Mts., highest part of the island, alt. 2,884 m in the north; Ankaratra Mts., alt. 2,644 m in the center), while in the east and the west are plains having a very different aspecr. The eastern plains, along the west of the Indian Ocean, are completely 62 VIETTE: Madagascar Lepidoptera Vol.9: nos.2-3 alluvial; the western plains, of sedimentary origin, show the series of formations from the Trias, on the primary base, to the Tertiary and the Quaternary to­ ward the Mozambique coast. Because of the high altitude in the higher part of the island, the proximity to the EquatOr and, in the south, the presence of the Tropic of Capricorn, Ma­ dagascar has various different climates, determined in part by the system of the winds. Towards the Indian Ocean, the rivers are numerous and short with a torrential aspect, except in the coastal part. Towards the Mozambique Channel, the rivers are longer, often large, and less rapid. Fig. 2. Map of the distribution of forests on Madagascar. The "Savoka" is a secondary growrh in the easrern zones. The numbers indicate rhe sites of rhe Inregral Natural Reserves. The vegetation of the island was exclusively a forest vegetation. From a very general point of view three plant formations are to be considered: 1955 The Lepidopterists' News 63 1.) The East and the Center formations are made by a rain forest, much more important than was indicated by RICHARDS (1952: 12), show different aspects according to the altitude: a) The eastern area is the only one to have a continuous forest zone, in some parts very narrow, on the slopes toward the wet trade winds. There are trees 10 to 20 m (30 to 65 feet) high with a very dense undershrub, of tree­ ferns, Pandanus, orchids, and epiphytic plants. It rains all the year round, but the wettest season is during the summer: November to April. b) The central area has now unfortunately only a few remnants of forests (the Eastern part of the Ankaratra Mts., Ambositra forest, etc.); there are generally denuded hills with reddish ravines in the laterite rocks; in the depressions or valleys are the rice plantations. The wet season is also during the summer, with fogs during the winter. 2.) The western formation is dry during a large part of the year with, in summer, a short but very rainy wet season. It shows some vestiges of for­ ests with deciduous leaves, very different of the eastern and central forests. 3.) The subdesert far-Southern zone with the very strange bush of Euphor­ biacece and Didiereacece, unique in the world. Wes.tern aeclimcnh,.y Central plat.au plains Anluratr. volcanic "". ~ Cri!otallin rocks ~ T... tiary • • ....... Iunic I"Ocks ~lConddr-y 5ea1iments Fig. 3. Geological profile of Madagascar through the A-B line shown on figure 2. Unfortunately these botanical formations were very much injured by the natives and their custom of burning the bush. Now only one-tenth of the general surface of the island has a primary vegetation, and the fauna is very restricted and local. For the protection of the remaining flora and fauna, France has made, since 1932, twelve Integral Natural Reserves in the different parts of the plant zones. The size of these different Reserves is very variable, 20 to 15,000 square kilometers, but it is strictly forbidden to enter such a Reserve (differing from a National Park), except with a special authorization for some scientific investigations. The flora and the fauna there are absolutely free. About the Lepidoptera, the first general study was published by Dr. J. B. A. DECHA UFFOUR DE BOISDUVAL (1833). This study is generally known as a little book with the title Faune entomologiq11e de Madagascar, Bourbon et Maurice. Lepidopteres. In fact, the original publication is in Nouvelles 64 VIETTE: Madagascar Lepidoptera Vo1.9: nos.2-3 Annales du Museum (Paris), 1833, vol. 2: pp. 149-270. The second general study is M. SAALMULLER'S: Lepidopteren von Madagascar, of which the first part was published in 1884 and the second, finished by 1. VON HEYDEN, in 1891. Between these two studies, of BOISDUVAL and SAALMULLER, a great num­ ber of original descriptions were published in different countries and period­ icals, chiefly in France and England, and SAALMULLER, at the beginning of his book, had the merit to make a complete bibliography of the whole of the studies or papers published, up to his time, on the Madagascan Lepidoptera. After SAALMULLER, the most important papers, with descriptions, were those of P. MABJLLE (the original locality of these is generally unknown), CH. OBERTHUR (from the collecting of MELou, and PERROT brothers, and LAMBERTON), and G. KENRICK (from the material collected by F. B. PRATT). Between the two World Wars, the most important papers are those of L. B. PROUT (for the Geometrid~) and C. L. COLLENETTE (for the Lymantriid~) from the material of the Tring Museum, collected and sold by MELOU and by N. and G. OLSOUFlEFF. Among the other collectors, it is important to cite the names of G. WATER LOT, A. SEYRIG, R. DECARY, and R. CATALA. The classic views maintain generally that the fauna of Madagascar is very rich in Oriental affinities. After my first mission in Madagascar, during the austral summer 1951-1952, a small group of French specialists, in close relation with the "Institut de Recherches scientifiques de Madagascar," in Tananarive, was organized in the National Museum, Paris, to study with the collaboration of foreign specialists, if it is necessary, the Lepidopterofauna of the island. The results confirm entirely the more general views published by R. PAULIAN (1952) on the Madagascan insect fauna, and the classic older views must be completely modified or, at least, suffer some restrictions. If it is right that the endemic Lepidopterofauna is, with the still unlisted species, a rich fauna, it is no less true that this fauna is purely sylvan, limited now to the forest areas still existing. It is in these very restricted domains of the true native vegetation that the true Malgassican Lepidopterofauna must be studied. As regards the number of individuals of anyone species, it must be under­ stood that this will depend upon the forest area. With the exception of the scrub on the burned areas, the rest of the forests are mostly on small patches in the bottom of valleys; the area is being reduced each year, and the fauna is disappearing there. These remnants of forest are very far from each other and effectively separated by regions devoid of animal life. Outside of the zones with a true Madagascan fauna, the zones cultivated by man have a great number of introduced species, as in the vicinity of Tananarive. If, as I have said above, the species still to be listed are numerous, it is completely otherwise concerning the importance and the number of families. The richness in species of the catalogues of the fauna of Madagascar hides, in reality, the relative poorness of the fauna. This fact, clearly true of the Lepi­ doptera, has been noted in other groups by J. MILLOT (1952) and R. PAULIAN (1952). Certain genera of Microlepidoptera, Geometrid~, Arctiid~ (Litho­ siin~), Lymantriid~, and Satyrid~ have reached an enormous development with a tremendous subdivision into endemic species and even sometimes of endemic 1955 The Lepidopterist!' Neu's 65 genera, with African affinities or unrecognizable because of profound modifica­ tions. On the other hand, other important families are very little represented; we can cite Lyca>nida> with 42 species against more than 1,200 on the African continent and Hesperiida> with 49 species against more than 450. It is also true for the Notodontida>, Saturniida>, Pierida> (see, for this family, the ex­ cellent revision of the subfamily Pierina> by G. BERNARDI, 1954). The Pyralid:r, that generally elsewhere form an important mass of the nocturnal Lepidopterofauna, are only moderately abundant in Madagascar; the species are endemic, African, or scattered in every warm zone of the Old World. Many species injurious to crops belonging to this family are present in Mada­ gascar. Eupterotida> have just been discovered, with one species. Metarbelida>, rather abundant on the Continent, are represented by only one genus and one species. HapiaJida> are unknown. Even if many species are still to be discover­ ed and to be described in numerous families, the future discoveries, as com­ pared with the importance of collecting during the past fifty years (R. Paulian, 1954), will not change the conclusions given here. The origin of the Madagascar Lepidopterofauna is African. Many com­ mon species, extensively scattered in every warm zone of the Old World, were described in 1833 from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands by BOISDUVAL and then rediscovered in India some ten years after, when the African fauna was still almost unknown. This was one of original causes of the error, that m:lde biogeographers consider the Madagascar Lepidopterofauna an Indian fauna.
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